What You Need To Know About Cheerleading Tryouts

Guess what? Today I tried out for cheerleading! I am warning you now; this part of the post is mostly a story. Skip down to the next paragraph if you are uninterested in my story. I had gone to cheerleading tryouts with my two friends. We had tried out last year, and the cheer had been really easy, so easy that I still remember it to this day. (If you were wondering what the cheer was it is: Ready! Come On! Yell for the best! The falcons are here from EHMS! Go Falcons!). Last year 6th, 7th and 8th grade tried out together. All in all there had been about 120 kids. This year 6th and 7th(That’s me!) tried out together. About 50 kids showed up. This year my Social Studies teacher happened to be the coach this year. 0.O First she had showed us cheerleading positions such as high V, low V and candlesticks. Then she read us the cheer (loudly) and showed us the moves with it. We all did it together with her 10 times at least. The cheer had been pretty long though, and by the time we were suppose to break up and practice with our friends, I had forgotten most of the cheer. I had to ask the coach a couple questions about the cheer in order to have some vague idea about what I was suppose to do. We performed in groups in front of everyone else but we had our backs to them. The groups had 15 kids in them. My friend and I had done it together and it was a wreck. We were the second group so we didn’t see how to do it. The first time we did the cheer the coach yelled out the words with us. The second time we were suppose to do it on our own. Most of us had forgotten the cheer so it looked really “sucky”, even I could tell out of the corner of my eyes. I just kept smiling, made eye contact with the coach (AKA Social Studies teacher) and improvised when I didn’t know the moves. After everyone auditioned she read the numbers for call-backs and me and my friends numbers were called. I was so happy; I wanted to hug everyone who had made the call-back. The coach gave us a sheet where our teachers would write our grade and what our behavior is. I was hyper with happiness for the next hour.

Here is what you need to know:

Always smile, but not a fake looking one, even when you’re not doing a cheer

Make your movements sharp

Use a strong voice

Do not chop up your words by syllable

Do not make your mistakes obvious; Quickly recover to the next move

Take out any jewelry and put your hair up. They will tell you to anyway

Wear gym clothes and sneakers that aren’t too baggy, but not tight

Don’t whisper or talk to your friends while the coach is giving instructions or you’ll automatically not make the list

It is also nice to drink some water before so you are hydrated. Bringing a friend who wants to try out as much as you can keep you going and it really helps. Good luck!